MCP exam

Cert Success Story Contest Closes Next Week

OK readers, this blog is just a quick reminder that we started a contest on June 11 in a blog entitled Share Your Certification Success Story, Win an MS Voucher. You can click the afore-cited link for all the details but the gist of the contest is this: visit the blog, click the e-mail link, and tell us about how you or somebody you know earned a cert that led to a new job, a promotion, or some other significant career boost. Microsoft has generously donated six (6) exam vouchers, each worth $125 at going prices for MCP exams.

We’re going to pick 3 winners in North America, and 3 more outside the US, Canada, and Mexico. Each one will get a free exam voucher good for any MCP exam–and hence, toward earning another certification to presumably help boost a career even further. I’ll interview all six winners and provide capsule summaries here in my blog for 5 of those 6. The person we decide has told the most compelling story will be featured in an article I will write for SearchNetworking.com.

So far, we’ve received more entries than we have exam vouchers to give away, but I’d very much like to get some more entries to widen the field of contestants, and to make sure we have some great certification stories to tell. Please e-mail us at editors@searchnetworking.com to share your story with us. This contest ends on June 30 at midnight, so please let us hear from you soon!

Good luck to one and all,

–Ed–

Share Your Certification Success Story, Win an MS Voucher

[updated 6/19/09]

Have you ever earned an IT certification? Do you know anybody else who has?

We’re looking for “Certification Success Stories,” where IT Professionals tell us how earning an IT certification has led to a big raise, a nice promotion, or a great new job. We’d like to hear from you with a brief description of how your experience, or that of somebody you know, meets one or more of these criteria. If your story really grabs our interest, we’ll want to follow up with a detailed interview by phone or e-mail. The top 6 entries will be profiled online, with the five runners-up covered in my blog, and the big winner serving as the focus for an article on SearchNetworking.com.

And just to excite your interest in participating, Microsoft has provided us with six exam vouchers that we’re going to give away: three for North America (US, Canada, and Mexico), and three for the rest of the world. These vouchers are good for MCP  and Microsoft Dynamics exams, so winners will be able to use them to go after their next certification! The going price for an MCP exam these days is $125, so this ain’t chicken feed.

Please e-mail us at editor@searchnetworking.com, put IT Cert Contest in your subject line, and give us a brief synopsis of your success story, so we can start picking winners. This contest starts today, June 12, and runs through June 30 (extended on 6/18, to give people additional time to indicate some interest). Hope to hear from you soon!

Only one entry per e-mail address, please. May the best story not only win, but inspire others to get their certification plans in gear.

MCPBACK gets you your next MCP exam for $25

Microsoft MCP exams — which include any and all exams that count toward MCTS, MCITP, and MCPD — usually cost $125 a pop. Right now, if you sign up for any MCP that leads to one of those three credentials, you can get it for a mere $25. But you have to act fast: this offer extends only to the first 4,000 individuals who seek to exercise this offer. The only qualification is that you must have taken your most recent certification exam (if any) prior to January 1, 2007. My last one was in 2001, when I took the Windows 2000 installing and configuring exam, so I immediately jumped on this offer for exam 70-620 “Installing and Configuring Windows Vista.”

Here’s how to exercise this offer for yourself (and as far as I can tell,  the SecondShot promo does NOT apply, but at $25, who cares?):

1. Log into www.prometric.com
2. If you don’t already have an account, register to create one
3. Sign up for the MCP exam of your choice
4. Include the promotion code MCPBACK as you work through the payment process

If you’re within the first 4,000 folks to do this, you’ll be able to take an exam for only $25. Between this and the $35 collection for Installing and Configuring Vista available through the Microsoft “SecondShot” program I’m shooting for an MCTS on Vista in late May, 2009, for a whopping $60. Anybody with the luck and/or hustle to qualify for these programs (act fast!!!) can do likewise.

As the old saying goes: “This is too good a deal to pass up.” I’ve already said, “Act fast!” but I’ll say it again just so you don’t forget. See you in the testing center soon!